Ashy Drongo

Lanmo's gaze sharpened, and enduring the intense pain in her chest, she slowly approached the space revealed by the collapse.

As he passed his collection, he picked up a light orb and activated it with his Magic Power. Although his magical affinity was weak, it was more than enough to activate this kind of basic lighting magic.

The illumination sphere instantly released a large expanse of soft and stable light, like the Dawn dispelling the thick fog, completely illuminating this vast space that had been buried for countless years.

As Lanmo looked around, the ground was covered with complex and primitive rune markings. These lines were rough and powerful, exuding an ancient and wild aura. They intertwined and extended to form a huge primitive magic array.

Within the magic circle, numerous twisted and desiccated corpses lay scattered haphazardly. Most were Old Humanity, but some were clearly not. Their forms and characteristics did not overlap with any currently known creatures!

Lanmo's gaze finally settled on a corner of the venue, and her deep pupils suddenly contracted.

There, a colossal dragon skeleton lay sprawled! The skeleton possessed an indescribable purity, its entire body shimmering with a crystal-clear luster, sparkling brilliantly under the illumination sphere.

Several clusters of strangely shaped, glass-like or crystal-like substances are condensed on its back. When light is projected onto them, it is incredibly refracted and scattered, forming a dreamlike, ever-flowing, magnificent halo of color around them.

The shape of this dragon skeleton is so unfamiliar that it is definitely not any kind of dragon that has ever existed in the history of the Taya Plane!

****

Pansy in the medical room.

The diagnosis came back quickly: the messenger's sudden fainting was caused by acute gastric dilatation.

The long flight had left him dehydrated. The large glass of warm water he drank upon arrival caused his stomach, which had been contracting, to expand suddenly, drawing in a large amount of blood to aid digestion.

This caused a sudden drop in blood pressure and a sharp increase in cardiac load. The resulting reflexive sweating further exacerbated the electrolyte imbalance and induced hyponatremia.

The messenger, already exhausted from the long flight, fainted on the spot.

Fortunately, the Pansy had excellent medical facilities. After emergency treatment, the messenger finally regained consciousness.

"So, the core information you brought is that Elder Lanmo and Yinfei fought in the Northern Ice Island, and the battle caused the ruins where he lived to collapse. Then, an ancient magic array was discovered in the collapsed area?" Su Ming said through gritted teeth.

He'd been anxiously worrying for ages, only to find out that the messenger, who'd almost "died," brought such a trivial matter?

The messenger lay on the medical bed, his face showing embarrassment and apology. He lacked experience with such extreme long-distance flights.

Life in Northern Ice Island moves at a slow and leisurely pace, much like the temperature there. There has never been a need to travel such a long distance in one go to deliver an urgent message like this.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have come to this; I almost died because of a glass of water.

"Yes, Lord Su Ming, Bay Owl. The Ashy Drongo Scholar says that the magic circle is very special, extraordinary," the messenger added. "She requests that you make time to go and investigate!"

"Ashy Drongo, Titled Scholar?" Su Ming narrowed his right eye—as for his left eye, it was being treated with a cold compress to reduce swelling. Since he was in the infirmary, he might as well take care of the injury caused by Zijin's fist.

"Yes, it's Chloe." Zijin held the ice cube bag and twirled it over Su Ming's eye sockets. "The former empress of the Star Empire."

Su Ming, thinking of this Legendary Feather Race who carried an egg on his journey.

"But shouldn't all those Titled Scholar already be—?" he wondered. Newman had been pulled up from the grave and the cocoon of souls, and to be precise, Zijin herself had also returned from the calamity of death.

"Chloe faked her death," Zijin shrugged. "So she was removed from the list of 'still-living' scholars."

Su Ming was stunned. So, Scholar Chloe was also a "survivor"? This seemed like a very serious problem!

"Why don't you contact us directly using the communication array?" Su Ming asked the messenger.

"The only communication hub in Northern Ice Island is located deep within Elder Lanmo's lair," the messenger hurriedly explained. "During the battle with Yinfei, that hub was completely destroyed. The Ashy Drongo Scholar was worried that your party might have already left the North Sea for Dragon Valley to handle other matters before the communication hub was repaired, which is why he urgently dispatched me to deliver this message."

Su Ming nodded.

Clearly, in the eyes of the Ashy Drongo Scholar, the importance of this ancient magic circle has reached a considerable level.

****

Su Ming quickly convened a meeting of core members to make arrangements.

With Hansite and Rupert leading the remaining damage control crew back in the two supply ships captured at Grodno port, the number of ships currently anchored at Shining Island, excluding the flagship Pansy, has reached thirteen.

This hastily assembled fleet consists of: a total of four Dawn Pioneer Class cruisers (including the one captured from the Dwarven Five Fangs), two magical warships Scourge of Absolution and the Thorns of Atonement, five supply ships from the Temple of Light, and the Dwarven merchant ship Bronzebeard and the semi-submersible Five Fangs.

Along with the capture of the ships, a large number of enemy crew members were also taken prisoner.

Currently, the captured ships are in varying degrees of damage and are being repaired at different paces. Su Ming has decided to leave most of the "Final Bone Mad Machines" members behind to continue their efforts in repairing the damage inflicted during the battle.

"Our biggest problem is a severe shortage of materials," Beianqi suggested. "Therefore, I recommend dismantling one of the supply ships."

Dismantling a ship can yield a large amount of much-needed ship timber, masts, sails, and other critical components, thus solving the most pressing problems in the current repair work.

"Great idea! Let's do it this way!" Su Ming agreed.

Northern Ice Island is not far from Shining Island, about 1700 kilometers away. Based on the intelligence brought by the messenger and Chloe's request, Su Ming has decided to make a trip there.

"The trip to Northern Ice Island will be undertaken by the Pansy alone, with a swift return," Su Ming announced to the attendees. "The group includes myself, Zijin, and Stacy."

There were a large number of remains of unknown creatures at the site, and Chloe specifically requested that Stacy go there.

Beianqi immediately spoke up, "I want to travel with Pansy!"

"I'm sorry, Beianqi," Su Ming refused her request, "I need you to stay here and oversee all the ship repairs. Furthermore, if the enemy attacks while we're away, you will be in full command of the fleet's operations!"

Beianqi bit her lip, a hint of disappointment flashing in her eyes. "-Yes."

The rest of the personnel were also assigned to stay on Shining Island. Su Ming assigned Ruixiuli to oversee the island's security, while Younier was mainly responsible for administrative and internal affairs, with Hansite assisting her.

"Huh? Me?!" Younier was so surprised by the appointment that she almost jumped up.

"It's alright, just think of it as managing your family's coal mine," Su Ming reassured her.

"My coal mine doesn't have that many superhumans!" Younier's voice was visibly tense and uneasy. These necromancers, if you picked any one of them and put them on Brown Gold Island, would be treated as honored guests by her family!

"It's alright, Miss Younier," Jielusi comforted her from the side. "If anyone misbehaves, I'll teach them a lesson for you."

"But what if you get into a fight, and your eyes turn gray?" Younier looked at Jielusi worriedly, "Won't they beat me up too?"

"So," Jielusi smiled, "They'll be even more afraid and won't dare to cause trouble!"

The Silver Dragon all remained on Shining Island, while the dwarven warship Five Fangs was responsible for daily patrols and battlefield surveillance in this area.

If you encounter an unexpected situation or an intrusive enemy approaches, shake the dragon. If that doesn't solve the problem, shake the Pansy C).

With its modern mobility and firepower, this giant ship is the only one who can bully others on this vast ocean.

****

After the deployment meeting, everyone immediately sprang into action, carrying out their assigned tasks.

The crew was reorganized and assigned to different ships. Large quantities of supplies also flooded into the Pansy. The necromancers directed their summoned creatures to busily move around the huge ship, carrying crates of supplies, fuel, and food to their destinations.

Thanks to the capture of five enemy supply ships and the supplies brought by the Bronzebeard, the food reserves, which were originally strained due to the need to feed the Silver Dragon, have now become surprisingly plentiful.

Considering the scarcity of resources in Northern Ice Island, Zijin suggested bringing these surplus supplies as a gift to the Feather Race and Lanmo.

Su Ming naturally accepted it.

On its way here, the Bronzebeard detoured past Brown Gold Island, carrying a large quantity of high-quality coal. It also brought along a package prepared for Younier by her family.

When Younier opened the box and saw the clothes and hometown pastries her family had prepared for her, tears streamed down her face.

"Alright, it's only been three months since you left home," Jielusi said softly from the side. Her condition had clearly improved, and she no longer needed to be by Ruixiuli's side all the time, nor did she have to be busy with everyone else.

Younier wiped away her tears, took out some pastries, and shared them with everyone.

When she handed it to Qiluo, the latter reflexively stepped back and moved far away.

Su Ming was personally responsible for handling the issue of the large number of prisoners.

In this battle, the total number of prisoners reached 1,500, even exceeding the number of members of the "Final Bone Mad Machines".

This situation arises because the automation level of ships in other worlds is generally very low, and large ships require a large number of people to operate them.

The identification of prisoners is now basically complete: the vast majority of them are sailors, numbering over a thousand.

These people were not part of the regular combat force; most of them were conscripted civilians.